Israel unleashed one of the heaviest nights of strikes in weeks on northern Gaza, followed by mass evacuation orders Monday, as Israeli officials headed to Washington for a new cease-fire push by the Trump administration.
A day after U.S. President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza cease-fire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of fighting letting up.
"Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. "In the news, we hear a cease-fire is near, on the ground, we see death and we hear explosions."
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of the Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
The Israeli military claimed it struck resistance targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza City.
The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction.
The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas members operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back," Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu's, was expected Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel's military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest cease-fire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel has agreed to a U.S.-proposed 60-day cease-fire and hostage deal and put the onus on Hamas.
"Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and cease-fire in Gaza," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem on Monday alongside her Israeli counterpart, told reporters that Vienna was very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which she described as "unbearable."
"Let me be frank, the suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel's relations with Europe. A cease-fire must be agreed upon," she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The U.S. has proposed a 60-day cease-fire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees of ending the war.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion, which caused 1,200 deaths and took 251 hostages.
Israel's genocidal war, in comparison, killed over 56,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80% of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
